The Parklands Diary

Applying Therapeutic Jurisprudence to Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms In his work "Notes for a Law Lecture," Abraham Lincoln declared, "Discourage litigation! Persuade your neighbours to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often the real loser—in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There still will be business enough." When Wanjiku needs legal aid, she will turn to a lawyer for help and/or guidance. However, considering a lawyer's personality, everything is carried out tactfully and with ulterior motives: money! For a lawyer, there is always a competition to win. Attention is drawn away from the client and moves to the lawyer. Wanjiku blindly agrees with everything the lawyer says because there’s a clear power imbalance. Wanjiku knows nothing about the law or how things are done, so she has no choice but to comply. It is without ...

  One day the pain will go away And the injustices we faced forgotten The wells of our tears will run dry Agony will be a forgotten vocabulary We will lie in a very quiet place Where our tormentors cannot get us Mother Nature will welcome us Her plants will grow above us Beautiful birds will take shelter in them And sing us soft melodies Days and years don’t exist in this world I long for this infinite eternity But until that day I will hold on to my pain Hoping it won’t devour me By  Kariuki Njumbi

  I once was a King , Who reigned in this girl’s heart. I was a monstrous King! In my reign, I never cared an inch about her. Like the big cat, I enjoyed roaring hard, As the fragile girl cried and trembled in fear. I felt so important to such a point; That I even forgot, I too was a subject once. The stupidity in me enjoyed torturing her, Even more as she begged me to stop. And those grievous mistakes, Marked the beginning of the end of my dynasty. Today, as I lurk out here in the cold, No one remembers that I once was a monarch. And as I agonize remorsefully, The fragile girl found another monarch. And perhaps she erased every memory of the evil King. As much as it hurts me, I have to admit That the new King rules better than I did by Kariuki Njumbi  

  Beneath the veneer of green succulent leaves and bushes thick and lush, emerged a howl of defiance and conviction; a storm to scream down the storm. At the center of it, all was the victim representative expressing the expansive victim desire to arrive at a comprehensive truth that refused to be restrained in the face of any political upset. Time stood still and allowed silence to break its banks. It is an open secret that most Kenyans are now privy to the harrowing scenes pictured in The BBC Africa Eye documentary titled 'Sex for Work: The True Cost of Our Tea'. Gross and devastating are the revelations therein. Any attempt to internalize the corrosive effects that have permeated workspaces is revolting. The visual impressions created from an appreciation of the details are jarring to the heart. Merit has often stood the test of time as the litmus requirement for employment. Sadly, it now stands immaterial in the wake of licentiousness. The men with the meat who also wielded...

How often have you heard the words ‘drought’ and "famine"? These words describe the condition of the North Eastern and parts of the Eastern regions of Kenya. For years, the residents in these areas have suffered from a lack of food and water, with the number of victims still increasing. All they’ve known is hunger, thirst, loss, and pain. However, with the high cost of living, it appears the remaining areas of the country will be doomed to the same fate. This article undertakes to give a brief description of food insecurity in Kenya. Food security entails access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets the dietary needs that are required for healthy living. The northeastern and eastern parts of Kenya are classified as arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), regions characterized as dry lands with short rains. However, over the years, due to climate change and climate variability, the regions have experienced little to no rain, with estimates for 2023 estimating that appr...

Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) is an area of philosophy that stems from mental health law. David B. Wexler posits that it looks at the underappreciated area of the law’s impact on the emotional life and psychological well-being of the people subject to it. Further, it seeks to extrapolate the law's great potential to be a therapeutic agent and facilitate healing. Essentially, therapeutic jurisprudence focuses on the law in terms of legal arrangements and therapeutic outcomes rather than in terms of stringent rules. TJ seeks to explore the fields of psychiatry, psychology, criminology, and social work vis-a-vis how they can, simultaneously and harmoniously, be consistent with the due process framework. The criminal justice system in Kenya is founded on various principles such as retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and restoration. Retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation are the fundamental elements of the adversarial legal system that we inherited from our ...

  Death might be the end of life A world without limitations and pain Those who hurt us on earth Can no longer hurt us in death Our bodies might wither But our souls become stronger I long for this infinite freedom But I still fear the mystery of death Death is a great leap into the dark And nobody is sure of the nature of the landing Since no one has ever come back to tell the tale Nevertheless, we all have to jump Each alone and at his own time Since two people can never jump together. But we forget it is the beginning of eternity By Kariuki Njumbi